Movie #119 Inception *2010*

This is going to be a brief post about Inception.  I have already blogged about this movie (Movie #98).  And in this review I noted that there is a excessive amount of exposition.  I seemed to be even more aware of all the explaining going on with this viewing.  Perhaps this is the case due to watching it with my father and step mother.  I felt like I needed to explain the movie in order to ensure that they were getting everything.  In doing so I noticed some of the nuances of the film that I had missed in my prior 3 viewings.

This is clearly a film that rewards repeat viewing.  In my last blog about this film I stated that "the movie thinks that it is smarter then it really is".  I am afraid that I may be stupider that I thought I was.  Some of the details that I had missed before made for a much better and well rounded film.

So why did I miss these lines?  Probably because I was paying so much attention to the visuals.  A few other things that I noticed this time around:

The is the best dressed movie of the year.  The team is dressed in designer clothes throughout the entire film.
The score for the film is really good, but totally all-up-in-your-face.  Blind people would have no trouble telling when something important is happening on screen.  Not only the score, but the back ground noise is well constructed and woven into the action very tightly.

My final observation is about the use of slow motion.  I find it fascinating that Nolan found a narrative use for slow motion.  Most movies have scenes in slow motion because it looks cool.  In Inception the slow motion serves a purpose.  When the van is falling off the bridge it is doing so in slow motion.  But in actuality this isn't true.  If you were to view the van falling from the dream within the dream it would be falling at that rate because time slows down the further you get into a dream.  The slow motion is actually used to represent the decelerated passage of time in the dream state.  That is genius!

I guess this wasn't that brief of a post.  Sorry.  Maybe it would be a shorter blog if you were reading this in your sleep.

Movie #98 Inception *2010*

Your mind is the scene of the crime.

Last night I watched Inception with the kiddos on DVD.  I took them to see the movie at the IMAX when it was in theaters.  I also saw it a second time in IMAX with my special lady and a good friend. There is a huge difference between watching it the IMAX and at home.  And I have a very large plasma TV and a good sound system.

The film is about a group of handsome men that enter your dreams in an attempt to either steal or plant and idea in your head.  It is a sci-fi corporate espionage thriller.  The movie is filled with with twists and turns that are designed to keep you guessing.  The plot is a twisting maze much like the worlds that have to build within your head in order for the thieves to navigate.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard.  It also has Joesph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy (these 3 being Year of Film favorites!).  There is also a host of other great character actors.  Most of the performances are solid to good.  I do feel sorry for Ellen Page.  She is the surrogate for the viewer.  Her job in the film is she is the architect of the dreams.  But really she is only there to say things like "You mean that..." and "Are you telling me that...".  She is there just to make sure that everyone is on board with the story.  One of the flaws of the film is that it thinks that is it smarter than it really is.

Another flaw, and a way that the film makers (directed by Christopher Nolan of Dar Knight and Mememto fame) tries to explain the movie is that it is filled to the gills with exposition.  The movie largely consists of people telling you what they are going to do and then doing it.  Strange that a movie that was sold so much on its visuals, which are fantastic, should spend so much time telling and not showing.

More on those visuals.  The trailer shows a scene where the street and the building seem to be rolling up on themselves.  That was one of the most impressive shots of all 2010.  People wanted to compare TRON Legacy to Avatar.  I think this film has far more comparison points.  There are so many fantastic scenes of both actual locations and CGI blends in this film that I think it is one of the most satisfying films of the year based solely on images. 

This film is so packed with stuff I could blog about it for hours.  Not everything works, but it is a solid action thriller worth the time investment. 

I give Inception a 4/5 stars. Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.